Jürgen Habermas’s research while affiliated with Cambridge and other places

... In recent times, there has been increased discussion concerning the decline of democracy, the death of liberalism and the triumph of illiberalism, global trends which are strongly evident in Central and Eastern Europe. Štětka and Mihelj (2022), building upon Habermas's (1989) public sphere concept, offer a definition of the threat to democracy in a media context, seeing an illiberal public sphere as "a communicative space comprising both traditional and new media that promote and amplify illiberal actors, views and attitudes" (3). Although the authors note that the illiberal public sphere is in its infancy in the Czech Republic, the direct threat of its development can be seen in nearby states in the "frontline of illiberalism" (10) of Eastern Europe, such as Hungary and Serbia. ...

Reference:

From Media Capture to Platform Capture: Reflections on Three Decades of a Free Czech Media